Despite surging Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron wave, the government eased restrictions further on Friday, inviting harsh criticisms from experts who lamented that “the government abandoned quarantine efforts.”

The ongoing pace of the Omicron variant’s spread has far exceeded the health authorities’ estimation, pushing severe cases and deaths sharply.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), new virus cases totaled 407,017, including 406,978 local infections, putting the total caseload at 8,657,609. The tally dropped from the all-time high of 621,328 on Thursday.

However, the death toll continued to increase as the nation reported 301 deaths, the second-highest number after the previous high of 429 reported on Thursday. This week alone, the government has confirmed that 1,907 people have died from Covid-19, more than seven times of the 271 deaths in the same period a month ago.

Of the 429 death toll on Thursday, 148, or 34.5 percent, were due to group infections at nursing homes or hospitals.

While the government admitted that the spread exceeded the original forecast, it continued to downplay the situation by comparing the Covid-19 virus to the seasonal flu and touting Korea's low fatality rate.

"According to Bloomberg News, Korea had the lowest death rate among major countries despite the recent surge of new cases," Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said during a daily meeting Friday. "Early examination and diagnosis have made it possible for us to treat the conditions become severe preemptively."

Stressing that the government is doing its best to protect the lives and health of the people, Kwon announced the relaxation of distancing rules further to increase the limit of private gatherings from six to eight people while maintaining the 11 p.m. business curfew from next Monday.

Korea has been weighing the option of further relaxing the virus restrictions amid the fast omicron spread, due largely to the pressure from small businesses and self-employed people hit hard by the pandemic.

At the same time, the government has largely abandoned the rigorous social distancing and contact tracing to shift to a new scheme to bring back normalcy to everyday life.

"The effectiveness and efficiency of social distancing are diminishing. So we have shifted our focus to minimizing seriously ill cases and deaths and gradually revamping the quarantine and medical systems," Lee Ki-il, a deputy health minister, said at a separate media briefing.

The government will consider further easing the virus curbs as it closely watches the omicron trend after reaching its peak, predicted to come around next week, Lee said.

However, the government's self-complacency faced severe criticism from the medical field, with some doctors asking whether the authorities had given up containing the virus spread.

Professor Kim Woo-joo of the Infectious Disease Department at Korea University Guro Hospital criticized the government for erroneously downplaying Omicron as seasonal flu.

"The government seems to think that the situation will end if it endures the crisis for a week or two," Professor Kim said. "However, people are not getting proper treatment even if they are sick. There is a vicious cycle, forcing medical professionals and hospital workers to work until they go to the brink."

As a result of the policy failure, more than 30 percent of the Korean population will test positive for the virus soon, and the suffering of the society will be devastating, with a cumulative death toll of 30,000, Kim added.

Lee Jae-gap, an infectious disease professor at Hallym University Gangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, agreed and said that 400,000 cases a day are too high.

"Korea's medical system will collapse if there are 400,000 flu cases a day," Lee said. "The medical community has already been in chaos for the past couple of weeks."

As the number of patients receiving at-home treatment is also approaching two million, Lee added that it is becoming difficult to receive medical treatment and prescription drugs.

Some even said that the situation has already reached a point where the quarantine authorities cannot regain their control.

"There are far more confirmed cases than flu patients, and many of them are failing to receive any treatment at all," Professor Chun Eun-mi at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital said. "Some of the confirmed patients are seriously ill, and even with the number of serious deaths increasing, they cannot receive a prescription for Paxlovid."

As a solution, Professor Chun suggested expanding outpatient treatment at university hospitals and general hospitals and allowing online sales of cold medicines.

"University hospitals and general hospitals must be opened to provide general treatment," she said. "It is necessary to expand outpatient treatment, which is currently only entrusted to private hospitals, to avoid a situation in which patients are not properly treated."

She added that the government should allow patients to purchase medicines online to solve the supply and demand problem, such as cold medicines and fever reducers.